Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what clinical trials underway in (a) the UK and (b) elsewhere in the world the Government is monitoring for the purposes of assessing the effectiveness of ivermectin as a treatment for covid-19; and what the timeframes are for the reporting of those trials.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department is closely monitoring the evidence on the case for ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. On 23 June, the PRINCIPLE clinical trial platform announced that ivermectin would be investigated to generate robust data on its effectiveness in treating adults aged 18 years old and over who are at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19. We will closely monitor the data from this trial, as well as emerging clinical trials worldwide to expand our evidence-base on the efficacy of ivermectin. We expect that data will become available from trials throughout 2021 and 2022 and will be reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned timetable is for the conclusion of the trials of ivermectin as a potential treatment for covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department has been closely monitoring the evidence on the case for ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. A recent collection of small studies show some positive indications that ivermectin may act as a treatment for COVID-19. However, further high quality, larger-scale studies are still needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of this treatment. We will continue to closely monitor the data from further emerging clinical trials worldwide to expand our evidence-base on the efficacy of ivermectin in treating COVID-19.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made has made of whether pink sputum should be part of the critical illness assessment in the NHS pathway review.
Answered by Edward Argar
NHS Pathways includes specific questions designed to determine if any blood has been coughed up by a patient. These questions are continually reviewed in order to enhance and refine the product. The NHS Pathways team is currently reviewing whether asking a caller about ‘pink frothy sputum (or phlegm)’ in the relevant symptomatic pathways is required in the context of the wider critical illness assessment.
Asked by: Lee Rowley (Conservative - North East Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of using pirfenidone and nintedanib for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
Answered by Jo Churchill
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for producing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether medicines represent a clinical and cost-effective use of resources.
NICE has published guidance recommending nintedanib and pirfenidone as options for treating adults with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis if the person has a forced vital capacity between 50% and 80%. NICE is currently considering whether an update to this guidance is required and expects to inform stakeholders of the outcome early this year.